


Watch Over You

by deaneatscake



Series: tumblr fics [7]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, Human Castiel, M/M, Nightmares, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 04:38:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11706972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deaneatscake/pseuds/deaneatscake
Summary: When Cas comes back as a human, he has nightmares. Dean tries to help.





	Watch Over You

When Cas comes back as a human, he has nightmares. Dean doesn’t notice it at first; the bunker is huge and the walls are mostly sound proof and Cas – well, Cas always looks tired.

And Cas does his best to never let it on that he dreams, every night, of all the people he killed, all the mistakes he made, all the knowledge he has lost because his human mind can’t comprehend it anymore. Some days he wakes up screaming, others crying – often both. But he never talks about it because, well, if he’s learned one thing, then this: Winchesters don’t talk about their feelings. And he’s a Winchester now, at least this much has Dean made clear.

Dean notices when they’re on a case in Iowa, sharing the motel room because Sam got the short straw and has to observe a haunted house they’ve theoretically cleared but – better safe than sorry. It’s almost 2am and Dean’s not even remotely tired so he’s just idling around when a soft whimper makes him perk up.

It grows louder. At first it’s barely noticeable but after a while the whimper turns into groans (and not the sexy kind either), then small cries and Dean can hear Cas’ breath hitching before he lets out a shout. Dean’s up before he knows what he’s doing, standing at Cas’ bed. He’s sweaty and his face is distorted into a grimace; without thinking, Dean grabs Cas’ shoulder and shakes it.

Cas sits up almost immediately. “I didn’t -” he stutters. “I didn’t want -”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Dean says softly. “It was a dream.” He’s surprised by the gentleness in his voice and swallows heavily; he shouldn’t turn this into a chick flick moment.

“Dean.” Cas recognizes him and immediately recoils; Dean’s hand is falling from Cas’ shoulder. “I’m sorry.” He sounds tired. “I – had a bad dream.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Dean answers.

“I’m sorry,” Cas repeats. “I didn’t want to disturb you. I can go sleep in Sam’s room if you want.”

Dean shakes his head without even thinking about it. “Dude, no,” he says forcefully. “That’s not a problem. I’m used to it. Sam had them all the time. Me… me too.”

“I – I may have had them a lot,” Cas admits. “In the last weeks. But I didn’t want to disturb you. And it’s not a problem, really. Don’t feel pressured into doing… something.”

“I’m not. Come on, let’s try to go back to sleep, okay? I’ll sit here a bit. Watch over you.” He points at the end of the bed.

Cas tilts his head curiously. “You always said I shouldn’t do this,” he says.

That makes Dean blush. “Well, that was – different,” he explains. He doesn’t exactly know how, but it - well it was. Most definitely. “You deserve it,” he adds as an afterthought.

Maybe it’s because Cas is too tired to argue or because he actually believes what Dean has said, but he agrees and lets himself fall to sleep shortly after. And it seems to help, very well actually – no nightmare in sight. Dean doesn’t fall asleep that night but that’s okay - he can sleep in the Impala, let Sam drive. He’s always happy when he can.

After that, it becomes a habit. Of course, because Cas is Cas, he at first puts up a fight – but after the third night in a row where he needed more caffeine than humanly possible to even held his head up he realized that this is his best option.

So Dean stops sleeping in his room, instead watching over Cas every night. He doesn’t mention it to Sam because – it’s no big deal anyway, and it’s just until Cas stops having these dreams. He sets up a comfy chair next to Cas’ bed and it works. When Cas has a nightmare, he wakes him up, they go back to sleep.

No need to talk about it. Not that they don’t talk – actually they do talk a lot, sometimes for hours at a time. About everything, being human, their last cases, philosophical questions; sometimes Cas tries to lure him into a conversation about mathematical equations because he ‘doesn’t want his skills to get rusty’ but Dean shuts that down pretty quickly.

They do this for a week until Dean’s back and neck starts to hurt. He doesn’t say anything because he has enjoyed their nights together so much that he fears saying anything will threaten whatever fragile thing they have build together but Cas, of course, notices it anyway.

When Dean groans and massages his neck as he sinks into the chair, Cas sighs and pointedly looks at his bed. “My bed is pretty big, you know,” he says.

“Um,” Dean says. “Okay?”

“It’s just – I see that you’re hurting. And I feel bad. Because I – I feel like my happiness comes at your expense. I don’t - I don’t want to be a burden.”

“You’re  _not_ , Cas. I’m just old and cranky and shouldn’t be doing this stuff anymore. But if I can handle a wendigo I can handle a fucking chair.”

“Well, you don’t have to.”

They don’t talk about it for that evening but when it’s 2AM and Dean wakes up with the worst crick in his neck that he has ever experienced, Cas wakes up and holds up his blanket as an invitation. “Come on,” he says and it’s not a plea, it’s not a suggestion, it’s an order.

So, of course, Dean obeys. He’s shaking and sweating at the prospect of sharing a bed with Cas, but he obeys.  _It doesn’t mean anything, he thinks. Cas is Cas. He just wants to be nice to me. It doesn’t mean anything_. He doesn’t sleep that night.

The next night, he’s in bed with Cas from the beginning. He almost doesn’t dare to move but he’s tired, so  _tired_ , and when he falls asleep he finds himself drifting closer to Cas; almost but not quite touching. They don’t talk about it afterwards.

The third night it all goes down. Of course he’s lying in Cas’ bed and of course he’s trying to keep his hands to himself but after talking for three hours and Cas’ eyes falling shut every few seconds now he just can’t help himself; he raises his hand and brushes a few stray hairs from Cas’ face.

When Cas opens his eyes almost immediately, he stills. “Sorry,” he says and puts his hand back, expecting – whatever, a shout, a ‘what the fuck are you doing you pervert’, a ‘leave my bed and don’t come back’.

Certainly not this. Cas takes Dean’s hand, putting it in his hair again. “It’s okay,” he says quietly. Hesitantly, Dean starts to caress Cas’ hair, watching with fascination when Cas shuffles closer, burying his nose in Dean’s neck. Far too soon his breath starts to even and he falls asleep completely; he doesn’t have any nightmares that night.

There’s no going back from this, and somehow Dean doesn’t want to. Soft touches turn into warm embraces turn into slow kisses turn into eager movements. He doesn’t look back; they don’t talk about it because, well, there’s nothing to talk about.

Except one thing, a few weeks later. “You know,” Cas starts quietly when Dean is running his fingers through his hair again. “I vowed to always watch over you,” he continues. “And then you said you would do the same.” There’s a short pause, then, very quiet, almost like an exhale. “Thank you.”

Cas doesn’t have nightmares again, but they still share a bed.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also on [tumblr.](https://mijrake.tumblr.com/)  
> [Rebloggable link](https://mijrake.tumblr.com/post/163534567393/because-of-this-addition-on-the-post-by-tinkdw-i)


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